By Dr. Vlad Krotov
AACSB and Research Impact
The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) places significant emphasis on research impact as part of its accreditation standards. Under Standard 8: Impact of Scholarship, AACSB encourages business schools to demonstrate that their faculty’s scholarly activities contribute meaningfully to business theory, practice, and education. The focus is not just on producing research but ensuring that it has a measurable influence on business, society, and academia.
Three Categories of Research as per AACSB Standard 8
AACSB’s Standard 8 posits that a business school can produce a portfolio of intellectual contributions that fall into the following areas:
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- Basic or Discovery Scholarship: focuses on expanding the existing knowledge base and developing new theories within business disciplines.
- Applied or Integrative/Application Scholarship: leverages foundational knowledge, established theories, and methodologies to address real-world challenges faced by business professionals and their organizations.
- Pedagogical or Teaching/Learning Scholarship: examines pedagogical theories and methodologies, fostering new insights, strategies, and content that improved usefulness and effectiveness of business education.
The exact nature and mix of intellectual contributions should reflect the mission of the business school. For example, a business school, as specified in its mission, may chose to become a leader in business thought, policy development, innovation, or certain business practices, such as sustainability. The portfolio of intellectual contributions should reflect that chosen area of focus.
Impact within Basic, Applied, and Pedagogical Research Categories
Each type of research outlined by AACSB Standard 8 contributes to business knowledge, practice, and education in distinct ways. Below is an overview of how each type of research generates impact.
Basic Scholarship: Expanding Knowledge and Theory
Basic or discovery scholarship focuses on advancing fundamental knowledge, developing new theories, and contributing to the academic body of work. An example of such research would be a new organizational behavior model that explains how leadership styles influence employee engagement over time.
Some of the key impact areas of this type of research include:
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- Theoretical Advancement: helps refine or develop new business theories in areas such as leadership, organizational behavior, strategic management, and finance.
- Interdisciplinary Influence: contributes to knowledge across multiple fields, such as behavioral economics, AI in business, and business analytics.
- Research influence: through theoretical and empirical insights, basic research lays the groundwork for future applied research and practical implementations.
Applied Scholarship: Solving Real-World Business Problems
Applied research builds on foundational knowledge and applies theories, methodologies, and techniques to address practical business challenges. An example of an applied research project would be a study applying blockchain technology to improve supply chain transparency and reduce fraud in the retail sector.
Applied research can have impact in the following areas:
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- Business Decision-Making: helps organizations make evidence-based strategic, financial, and operational decisions.
- Policy and Regulatory Influence: guides policymakers in areas like corporate governance, taxation, and labor laws.
- Technological Innovation: supports businesses in adopting AI, big data, and digital transformation strategies.
- Entrepreneurship: leads to the creation of new products, business models, or business practices.
- Industry Best Practices: develops frameworks for improving management practices, supply chain efficiency, and customer experience.
- Sustainability and Corporate Responsibility: influences business policies on ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) initiatives.
Pedagogical Scholarship: Enhancing Business Education and Pedagogy
Teaching and learning scholarship can lead to the creation of new content for business education (e.g. case studies, books, book chapters, or white papers). It can also have a more research-driven and empirical focus and examine educational methodologies, student engagement strategies, and curriculum innovations to improve business education. A study exploring the effectiveness of simulation-based learning in teaching strategic management to MBA students would be an example of the latter type of pedagogical research.
Teaching and learning research can have impact in the following areas:
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- Curriculum Development: leads to the creation of more effective business courses and learning materials.
- Innovative Teaching Methods: enhances learning experiences through simulations, case studies, and digital tools.
- Student Learning Outcomes: provides insights into how students acquire business knowledge and skills.
- Workforce Readiness: ensures that graduates have the necessary competencies to succeed in the business world.
- Faculty Development: helps educators refine their teaching approaches based on empirical research.
Conclusion
Each type of business research outlined in AACSB Standard 8 plays a critical role in shaping business theory, practice, and education. Basic research advances theoretical knowledge, applied research translates that knowledge into real-world solutions, and pedagogical research ensures that business education remains effective and relevant. Together, these research approaches drive innovation, improve business decision-making, and enhance the quality of business education. The exact mix of research and its specific impact is driven by the mission of a business school. Regardless of the exact area of focus chosen for its mission, all business schools must provide evidence of how their research translates into real-world applications rather than just accumulating publication counts and citations by other scholars. This is the most important idea behind AACSB Standard 8.